Food hygiene
An inspection is largely a documents exercise. The kitchen can be spotless and the visit still go badly if the temperature records stop three weeks ago.
What the law requires
Retained Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 requires food business operators to put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure based on HACCP principles, and to keep records appropriate to the nature and size of the business. In Great Britain the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 and their equivalents provide for enforcement. A food business must register its premises with the local authority, normally at least 28 days before opening, and food handlers must be supervised, instructed and trained in food hygiene matters appropriate to their work.
Legislation referred to on this page: Retained Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 · Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 · Safer Food, Better Business. Named so you can read the source. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and whether a duty applies to your organisation is a question for you and your adviser.
Who it applies to
- Any food business operator — including caterers, clubs, places of worship serving food regularly, and events.
- Registration is required for the premises, and it is free.
- The scale of the documented system follows the size and nature of the business; a small operation using Safer Food, Better Business is meeting the same requirement as a large one with a bespoke HACCP plan.
What you have to be able to show
The list an inspector, insurer or auditor actually works through.
- The food safety management system, and evidence it is actually used day to day.
- Temperature records — fridges, freezers, cooking, hot holding, cooling.
- Cleaning schedules signed off.
- Supplier and traceability records, and allergen information.
- Training records for every food handler, including new starters.
- What happened when something went wrong, and the corrective action taken.
How DutyHub records it
DutyHub does not carry out any of the work below. It records who did, when, and what they found.
Daily checks on a phone
Opening and closing checks, temperatures and cleaning are recurring checks with QR labels. A missed day is visible the next morning rather than at the inspection.
Corrective actions kept with the failure
An out-of-range temperature raises an action attached to the reading that caused it, so the record shows what was done as well as what went wrong.
Training that expires
Food hygiene training carries a refresh cycle, and a new starter without it shows as a gap rather than being invisible until somebody notices.
Start with what applies to you
Add your premises and answer a short set of questions about them. DutyHub works out which duties land on which building, and shows you the gaps before anybody else finds them.
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